Asbos encouraging more crime, thinktank claims

The government's flagship use of antisocial behaviour orders on children are backfiring by encouraging them into crime, a thinktank warned today.

A report due to be released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) next month will call for the policy to curb children's antisocial behaviour to be reformed to stop the burgeoning "asbo culture" from becoming a "self-fulfilling prophecy".

The scope of asbos - which can be used to ban individuals from specific streets or whole town centres - has grown steadily since they were introduced by Tony Blair after he came to office in 1997.

However, there has been criticism that the orders are draconian, applied inconsistently across the country, and used on children as young as 10.

The IPPR argues that the orders should not be applied to under-12s unless accompanied by family or parenting orders.

Anyone up to the age of 18 ought to be fully assessed by children's services before being hit with an order, the thinktanks says, the duration of which should only be between six months and two years - rather than the 10-year maximum currently allowed.

More productive measures proposed include encouraging young tearaways to join the scouts or learn a martial art, or giving them access to facilities such as adventure playgrounds.

The study will also insist that there ought to be more support for families whose children are identified as being at risk of turning to crime, and say that all adults need to be made aware of their responsibility to set "norms of behaviour" for youngsters.

Commenting today ahead of the report, Carey Oppenheim, the co-director of the IPPR, said: "The problem with 'kids these days' is the way adults are treating them. Britain is in danger of becoming a nation fearful of its young people: a nation of paedophobics."

The IPPR's call comes ahead of the publication of the government's "children's plan" tomorrow, which is expected to focus on the so-called "tweenage" years between eight and 13 when ministers believe youngsters are most likely to go off the rails.

Vernon Coaker, the junior Home Office minister, insisted today that asbos should not be used as a "first resort" but ought to be put in place only when offenders failed to respond to a range of lesser interventions designed to encourage them to change their behaviour.

Coaker told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that antisocial behaviour interventions were a key factor in deterring people from further nuisance activities, and evidence showed that local communities welcomed their use and wanted more to be imposed.

He said: "There is not a huge number of them, 5,000 for young people [since 1999], targeted at those causing real problems. The evidence from local communities is that they believe they make a real difference and help to prevent harm in communities."

Paul Cavadino, the chief executive of crime-reduction charity Nacro, said that asbos had a high failure rate because they presented an "entirely negative approach".

"They impose restrictions on children without providing positive help to the child or their family," he said.

The shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, told GMTV: "We have got to get the balance right between effectively disciplining our children and stigmatising them."

Asbos were introduced by section one of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and first used in 1999.
Antisocial behaviour has a wide legal definition. To paraphrase the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, it is behaviour which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people who are not in the same household as the perpetrator.

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